The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy was Minister of the Interior during the greatest urban disturbances in recent French history, which took place in the most marginalized neighborhoods of the principal cities. He wants to avoid repetition of these events. The twentieth plan that he wants to apply to the suburbs has been dubbed Hope. Are the measures effective? What is the origin of the violence? Are we dealing with an Islamic revolt? Will it be useful to maintain a hard line?

Finding a solution to the future of Kosovo that satisfies the Serbs and the Albanian-Kosovars is proving to be a difficult task; perhaps the alternative could at one stage be the creation of a Confederation between Serbia and Kosovo, which is still its province; it would not be an optimal situation for either of the parties, but it could be an intermediate route towards the final, peaceful solution to the conflict.

Tension mounts between the two powers, each time becoming more confrontational

Posted by , 28th December 2007

The refusal of the United States to halt the installation of the anti-missile shield in Poland and the CzechRepublic, and the mounting aggression between Washington and Moscow, gave the impression that a new Cold War atmosphere has come over International Relations.

The crude realities of Kosovo´s teetering social cohesion following 8 years of UN rule

Posted by , 30th November 2007

Kosovo’s independence is inevitable, given the failure of multiethnicism in the Balkans, the overwhelming support it has amongst Kosovars, and the fact that Serbia’s grip upon the region is currently only nominal, argues the author. He suggests that the EU should play a more important role in mediating the conflict and attempt to implement the main parts of the Ahtisaari Plan. At the same time, caution must be exercised, so as to avoid a crisis with Serbia or Russia, as well as a repeat of the gruesome violence that gripped the region during the 1990s.

The crisis between the Turkish army and the Kurdish rebels of the PKK seems to be mitigated thanks to the offers guaranteed to Turkey on behalf of the United States and Iraq, but the chaos that devastated the latter, predicts that the conflict will continue in the short term, and possibly the long term as well. Turkey has emerged victorious from its first incursion but the future is no more flattering for its interests. A large part of the solution the crisis is thanks to the United States.

The electoral results received in Poland have transformed the political landscape of the country: the defeat of the conflicting Kaczynski brothers, and the failure of the radical parties has restored to the Polish people true optimism. Among, the first measures of the administration of Donald Tusk is the announcement of the retreat by 2008 of the 1,200 Polish soldiers stationed in Iraq, the adoption of the Euro in 2012, and the signing of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.

Dialogue, diplomacy, prevention, and the use of dissuasive force in order to preserve the peace

Posted by , 3rd October 2007

Spain contributes to the missions of multilateral peace, humanitarian aid, and reconstruction that was proposed by the Government and passed by the Congress which represents the Spanish citizenry. The country is already a power on the global stage, and for this reason it neither can nor should elude its responsibilities.

No one has any doubt that the structural funds received from the European Union have contributed in an irrefutable manner to the economic growth witnessed in Spain during the past twenty years. There are aspects in which these funds have placed Spain amongst the highest of European societies, most importantly in the fields of productivity, advanced technology, research, ecology, and innovation.

Questions of social cohesion and the battle of ideas against extremism (part II)

Posted by , 13th September 2007

A study of the threat of Islamic terrorism in Britain, analyzing the historical and social components of a generation-long problem: there is a need for a comprehensive approach to homegrown terrorism in a democratic society, but there is no single solution.